MICHIGAN 11 Notre Dame 1 (Saturday)
UND sandwiched one unanswered goal around streaks of eight
and three by UM.
Although I can echo some of the worries recently posted by
atwbartley@aol.com...e.g., how can Michigan avoid complacency,
will they be ready to play a one-goal game the next time they're
in one, etc...I have to say that I didn't find the game to be boring.
I'll gladly see the Wolverines roll over the CCHA's second division.
It helps keep the blood pressure a little lower and the finger nails
a little longer. There are plenty of tight games still remaining on
UM's schedule. Plus, it's a nice change of pace to see Michigan
hammer the second division. En route to the CCHA regular season
crown last year, UM's four losses all came at the hands of teams
outside of the CCHA's phinal phour. (Losses to Ferris State, Illinois
at Chicago, Miami and Notre Dame.)
As for the game, the Irish looked like they abandoned their game
plan before their bus pulled into Yost. The first period saw five
Michigan goals and four Notre Dame shots. Kevin Hilton and
Brendan Morrison fed Jason Botterill for a pair of PP tallies in the
period. The trio is currently 1-2-3 in CCHA league scoring, all at
over two points-per-game. Morrison also scored a pair of NHL
caliber goals in the opening stanza. The first came unassisted
when Notre Dame's All-Overrated Jamie Ling hit Morrison perfectly
with a centering pass. Morrison then danced around Ling, a UND
defenseman and finally goaltender Matt Eisler before depositing
the puck in the net. His second goal was similarly an individual
effort from the blueline in as he bobbed and weaved through the
UND defense before tucking it shortside on Eisler. Un-B-leave-
able. Morrison may not win the Hobey Baker, but I have to believe
that he's the best player in college hockey today. Michigan's
other first period goal was scored by Sean Ritchlin thanks to a
beautifully placed cross-ice pass from Greg Crozier. Bubba
Berenzweig drew the second assist, making it an all-freshman play
in the scoring books. After 20 minutes, the outcome of the game
had been determined.
UND coach Dave Poulin replaced Eisler with Wade Salzman mid-
way through the second period and it took Michigan all of eight
seconds to add to Salzman's goals against total. It's obvious that
the Irish will be MUCH easier to dislike under Poulin than they were
under Ric Schafer. (A) Schafer was/is too damn charming (pleasant,
witty, etc) to dislike. (B) The Irish were much less aggressive, in so
far as committing penalties, under Schafer. In a nutshell, they were
a bland team with an entertaining coach. I commented at the game
that the most noticeable change in UND's strategy was the shift
from "ice and change" to "hack and change." No, they weren't that
bad...but their new aggressiveness was apparent. Continually
putting Michigan on the power play is not a recipe for picking up
points at Yost. Of Michigan's five first period goals, three came on
the power play and one more was on a delayed penalty.
I was also treated to a pair of "take out the guy that just touched my
goaltender" plays, that I professed my appreciation for earlier.
Michigan's Chris Frescoln didn't disappoint. After a UND player
took a poke at UM's Marty Turco, Frescoln reached around from
behind him, put his hand on his face and proceeded to yank him to
the ground as if he were pulling the handle of a slot machine. The
majority of the (UM) fans in my area were looking for five minutes.
I couldn't figure out what major would be appropriate to call, so I
would have given Frescoln a double-minor for roughing. As it was,
he only went to the box for two minutes. Add a goal and an assist
and this may have been the best game of Frescoln's career.
Notre Dame's Brian Urick was the other "enforcer." He delivered
a monster cross-check right across the numbers of a UM player
(Bobby Hayes?), sending him sprawling into the net. Urick came
so far across the ice to deliver the hit that he had to stop twice for
fuel. In fact, I believe he went to the box for charging rather than
cross-checking. Michigan wanted five minutes (and deserved
five minutes), but got only two. Fair enough, UND deserved more
than two for Frescoln's mugging.
The question on everyone's mind (well, at least on mine) was,
what happened to 8-foot tall UND senior defenseman Davide Dal
Grande? UND's career leader in icing wasn't in the lineup and he
wasn't on the roster listed in the game program. (He has appeared
in 14 games this season.) He was "in the house" though, sitting in
row 1 behind the Irish bench, obstructing the view of those sitting in
rows 2-5.
Btw...backup 'tender Gregg Malicke mopped up the final 20 minutes
in the UM net. Malicke is still nursing a knee injury from earlier in
the month, but looked good in stopping all eight shots he faced.
He may have caught a break at the end as Notre Dame fluttered
one off of his blocker and into the net as the game ended, but time
had apparently expired. As soon as the puck went over Gregg's
shoulder, I looked up and saw that beautiful green light behind the
goal, so I knew he was safe. For everyone that remembers that I
preferred Chris Gordon to Steve Shields, I also prefer Malicke to
Turco. However, in this case I'd just like to see Malicke get more
minutes. I'm also a Turco fan, and Marty's play has picked up in
the second half. His goals against is primarily a product of the team
in front of him, but his save percentage is steadily on the rise.
Turco is 20-4-0 with a 2.09 and 89.3 going into Friday's action at
Ohio State. He was 27-7-1 with a 2.76 and 89.4 last season. He
looks to get his 50th career win in February of his sophomore
season, and his 60th will hopefully arrive this year as well. Back
to Malicke, he is 0-0-0 with a 0.91 and 95.0 in 132+ minutes. Unlike
Gordon/Shields, when I simply felt that Gordon was hands down
a better netminder than Shields, I'd like to see a balanced rotation
of Malicke and Turco. But, if it ain't broken...
Fwiw...the crowd favorite is third stringer Greg Daddario (5'6" and
not yet shaving), who has stopped all three shots he's faced in
11+ minutes played.
And, the Michigan crowd topped (or lowered) itself this weekend
in the foul language department. At one point, a very loud (probably
1000 voices strong) chant of "F*** the Irish! F*** the Irish!" was
emitted from the student side, filling the arena. I don't necessarily
disagree with the sentiment, but it didn't need to be verbalized.
Two opposable thumbs down.
Obligatory statistical content (some already posted by Jeff Weiss):
Congratulations to Western Michigan freshman netminder Marc
Magliarditi for recording his fourth shutout in CCHA play, establishing
a new conference single season record. I tabbed Magliarditi as
CCHA Player of the Year for the first half of the season in a recent
article. As much as I'd like to see Morrison (or Botterill or Hilton)
dominate the scoring and receive PotY, I'd still have to give it to
Mag at this point. I think it will be a two man race between he and
Morrison at season's end.
Also, after seeing him in person and reading of his play at LSSU
this weekend, it's clear that Alaska Fairbanks' Ian Perkins is another
CCHA freshman goaltender of note. I bet UAF fans would have
enjoyed having Perkins during the Fedorchuk-Lester-MacMillan
days, rather than Brian Fish and Larry Moberg.
And, an update of Michigan's top two lines (overall):
NAME POS YR GP G A PTS P/GP
1 Brendan Morrison C JR 18 18 29 47 2.61
1 Bill Muckalt RW SO 22 12 19 31 1.41
1 Jason Botterill LW JR 18 23 15 38 2.11
2 Kevin Hilton C SR 24 8 38 46 1.92
2 Warren Luhning RW JR 21 13 15 28 1.33
2 John Madden LW JR 24 17 18 35 1.46
Botterill has been on roughly a goal-a-period pace since returning
from the WJC...13 goals in 5 games. Hilton is still a point ahead of
Morrison in the CCHA scoring race (39 to 38) and the two of them
are beginning to pull away from the field. Hilton gave a skating
exhibition on Saturday as well, including toying (sorry, I can't think
of a better description) with the Irish during one of UND's power
play opportunities. Hilton carried the puck into the UND zone, then
decided to kill some time rather than directly generate offense, so
he skated out of the zone and began passing the puck back and
forth with the UM defensemen. They (Hilton primarily) literally held
the puck for about 30 seconds in a 4-on-5 situation.
Lastly, and least...there's no quicker way to end a streak of solid
officiating than by having Roger "Steffi" Graff in the house. Steffi
doesn't know when to pay her taxes and Roger doesn't know when
to blow his whistle. Oh well, if Matt Shegos (or Steve Piotrowski)
worked every game I'd never learn to appreciate him/them.
John H ([log in to unmask]) 20-4-0 overall / 15-3-0 CCHA
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